Nearly eight years in the making, Apple’s new 2.8-million-square-foot main building is nearing completion and is beginning to welcome employees. The new $5 billion dollar campus was born out of Steve Job’s vision to create a “park-like” work environment for collaboration, innovation, inspiration and creativity.
“Steve’s original intention was to sort of blur that line between the inside and outside,” says Lisa Jackson, Apple’s environment czar. “It sort of wakes up your senses.” (source)
The new Apple Park facility designed in collaboration with Foster + Partners replaces asphalt and concrete with grassy fields, huge artificial hills (berms), and native fruit trees. One of Job’s main goals for the new facility was to cover the campus in native trees and indigenous flora, especially native fruit trees from the orchards he remembered from growing up in Northern California. After completion, the Apple Campus will reportedly plant almost 9,000 native and drought-resistant trees. Within the ring’s interior park Apple has constructed two miles of walking and running paths, a meadow and pond, and an orchard.
The ring-shaped main building is built with the largest panels of curved glass in the world. The building is also one of the most energy efficient in the world and will run entirely on renewable energy mostly from 805,000 square feet of solar arrays on the campus. The building is the world’s largest naturally ventilated building and is estimated to need no air conditioning or heat for nine months out of the year. The facility includes a 100,00-square-foot fitness and wellness center complete with a two-story yoga room for Apple employees. Apple Park will also include a public cafe, Apple Store, and a visitor center. To honor the company’s late CEO, the facility’s 1,000 seat theater will be named after Steve Jobs.
The new Apple Park facility is located less than 15 minutes away from Maple Tree Inn, if you’re looking for a comfortable and affordable place to stay while visiting Apple Park, Maple Tree Inn may be the perfect place for you. Take a look at our rooms to see our different lodging options.
